James Durbin tackled “Closer to the Edge” for his “now” performance on American Idol last night and then cried through his “then” performance of “Without You.” He may not have had two perfect performances, but one performance was “emotionally perfect” according to the judges! Did you agree or was the crying too much?

Steven Tyler started off the judging of James’ 30 Seconds to Mars song saying, “James, man. I think you kicked that song’s a**. Nice going, man. Beautiful. The way you worked the audience was like you’re Ready for Freddie.”

“We’ve talked about who’s going to come out here and grab it. Who’s going to take it and the past few weeks you’ve been showing us that you want it,” Jennifer Lopez said. “I know America is feeling it and we’re feeling it right here. Grab it. Take it. It’s yours to take, James.”

Randy Jackson added, “Now you’re showing us where you could go as an artist and the type of record you could make. So it doesn’t date you just in an older rock category. Dude, I’m telling you what, James is in it to win it, America! This guy right here wants it! He wants it, Ryan [Seacrest]! He wants it!”

James got very emotional, and a little pitchy, with his next performance.

“As Steven and Jennifer will attest to, this is a mark of truly a great performer,” Randy Jackson said. “I could feel your emotion when you started that as we were watching the package and you were thinking about your family and the journey that you are on here.”

“I tell you, man, just fighting back through the emotions for you to give a vocal like you gave. No, it wasn’t perfect, but it was emotionally perfect. The notes, some of them were flat/sharp here and there, but it was emotionally perfect. And that’s what the audience really feels. So, I’m telling you something, now, this competition right now, you — it’s yours to lose.”